Opinion

The European Parliament elections were hardly a triumph for the populist parties. But in Italy, the far-right nationalists were on a roll. The League won 34.3% of the vote, doubling its share in last year’s general election. The 5 Star Movement collapsed to just 17.1%, but Brothers of Italy, a smaller far-right party, took 6.5%. Two in five voters chose ...

Lenovo Group Ltd. just reported March quarter profit that climbed threefold to beat the highest analyst estimate. The Chinese computer maker’s focus on higher-margin products will offer investors some comfort that management’s turnaround strategy has been successful. That’s not wrong. But a lot has changed in the past year. The world is facing a tougher economic outlook, which will impact ...

Most modern cities have measures to reduce congestion. But if their goal is to dramatically improve air quality and extend lives shortened by pollution, then tolls and parking meters simply aren’t enough. It’s worth asking what a more ambitious target would look like. Amsterdam has made itself a test case, proposing an outright ban on gas and diesel vehicles by ...

Is the world’s most bitterly contested coal mine finally getting the go-ahead? After the opposition Labour party suffered heavy losses in coal-mining regions in Australian federal elections, the Carmichael project looks to be getting closer than ever to approval. In the view of the government’s resources minister Matt Canavan, the pit being developed by Adani Mining Pty., a unit of ...

These days, any news seems to be good news for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). After Tata Motors Ltd.’s UK unit posted 120 million pounds ($152.8 million) of pretax profits and positive free cash flow for the quarter, the company’s US-listed shares rose as much as 10% in pre-market trading and bond prices ticked up. Both numbers remain deep in the ...

Indonesia was never keen to be part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. That hasn’t stopped it from embracing the Chinese way when it comes to financing roads and railways. The government of President Joko Widodo plans to spend more than $400 billion building airports, power plants and other infrastructure in the next five years, Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro told ...

The US-China tech cold war is about to spread, and that will force leaders to make some difficult decisions. I wrote last week that a digital Iron Curtain had been drawn when President Donald Trump moved to isolate Huawei Technologies Co. Within a week, global corporations were caught in this divide. Alphabet Inc.’s Google said it would cease some ties ...

After correcting for inflation, wage gains remain sluggish. In April, average weekly earnings for nonsupervisory workers were up 3% from a year earlier, to $785.55. Meanwhile, prices as measured by the consumer price index were up 2%. Considering that the economy has been expanding for nearly a full decade, this is perplexing, even allowing that wages are growing faster at ...

It’s become depressingly familiar to watch Italian government bonds yields push higher, with the spread over German bunds getting close again this week to its widest point of the year. For that, you can thank more political posturing by the country’s populist leaders ahead of the May 23 European elections. Matteo Salvini, leader of the League and deputy prime minister, ...

Theresa May’s departure as Britain’s prime minister won’t heal the country’s divisions or end its Brexit nightmare. This drawn-out crisis is so far from being resolved, her successor might soon regret winning the top job. But the task isn’t hopeless, and the right kind of leadership could move Britain and the European Union to a better outcome. The main contenders ...